Smart campuses provide smarter academic environment

Smart campuses provide smarter academic environment
Updated 24 September 2012
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Smart campuses provide smarter academic environment

Smart campuses provide smarter academic environment

Saudi Arabia has embarked on a smart building initiative with the construction of 17 smart campuses, which will go a long way in providing necessary IT tools and natural environment to those working in higher education and research sector. A total of 10 "Smart Campuses" have already been set up in the Kingdom with inbuilt high-technology devices, wireless networking and other digital accessories like date library and online knowledge sources.
"As infrastructure and devices for the smart campus are being provided, associated systems are also being developed for much smarter academic affairs," said Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Motrif, director of the Smart Campuses and Buildings Department at the Ministry of Higher Education, here yesterday. Al-Motrif said that "the Kingdom had gone far ahead with the plan to build world-class smart campuses." Indeed, a lot of universities are proceeding with their smart campus plans," he added.
He pointed out that "Saudi Arabia’s ambitious Smart Campuses program, which comprises 17 new campuses, is well on track for completion." All these smart campuses will be ready next year, he added. Given the current focus on educational infrastructure in the Kingdom, Al-Motrif says, “It is now a good time for national contractors and private sector players to come forward, get business and work together with the Ministry of Higher Education.”
He, however, said that this ambitious smart campus program has also posed a particular challenge to the construction industry in Saudi Arabia. While education is no different from any other kind of project, we have a huge gap with those contractors who are too busy to even think of so-called ‘smart’ early on, said Al-Motrif, while referring to the major construction players in the country, which have been handling such projects on local, regional and international level.
Referring to the smart campus projects, he said that there had been a consistent rise in the number of smart campuses globally because of their role in promoting highly-effective education including their role in pedagogy and technology. A smart campus is designed to enhance the integration of technology into curriculum, and it is a relatively new concept, said Al-Motrif, adding that the Ministry of Higher Education has invested greatly in developing smart campuses recently.